Regrets, Revelations and Righted Wrongs
by etakkate
Summary: What if Hannah had a secret?  This is a one-shot; a little journey of how our dynamic duo resolve their regrets, right their wrongs whilst ridding the rival that is Hannah.  Please enjoy!


**I'm not sure where it came from but I hope you enjoy it! **

**This is dedicated to my sister who graduated as a Nurse this week - I am so pwoud! She supported me through the birth of my two babies - when the first was born (he is three an a half now)**** She said, "I am gonna be a midwife!" She promptly enrolled at uni and slugged it out for three years and now she's done! Anyway, I had to share that with you as I am just so stoked :)**

** I don't own Bones :(**

Booth made his way to the persistent knocking at the door of his apartment. For a split second, a wave of expectation and nervousness washed through him as he hoped against the wisdom of his conscience that it was Bones.

Swinging the door open, he was met by a well built middle aged man, about six foot two with dark hair and brown broody eyes. He was dressed well – in a suit and tie with a tanned complexion.

"Can I help you?"

The man displayed his badge and introduced himself, "I'm Senior Officer Craig Burley from the New York Police Department. I'm looking for Hannah Burley."

Booth looked at him with confusion, "I ah... Hannah is out... at work," Booth's brows drew further together, "Why do you ask?"

"I need to talk with her."

"Okay, what, are you her brother or..."

"I'm her husband, and you are?"

"Riiiight..." He drew out the word – looking the man up and down in scrutinising appraisal, "Show me that badge again Pal."

Craig complied. Judging it to be authentic, Booth handed it slowly back to the _married_ police officer.

Booth's face hardened, "Come in."

After introducing himself as FBI, Booth sat down opposite Craig in the lounge, "So, tell me why I should believe you're married to my girlfriend?"

Craig shrugged and held up his hands in surrender, "Hey, I'm not here to convince you of anything. If Hannah hasn't told you about our relationship then that's for the two of you to discuss. I have been trying to contact her about an urgent personal matter and she is not answering or returning my calls."

"Maybe she is trying to give you the hint huh?" Hannah most definitely had some questions to answer but, right now – when there was a stranger sitting on his couch claiming to be married to the woman he wanted to marry himself, he would give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Yeah, well, that's not really her choice." Craig looked to the floor, not before Booth saw a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"And what's that s'posed to mean?"

Craig dropped a couple of pictures onto the coffee table. "That's Teghan. We call her Curly. She just turned five."

Booth picked up the photos of the little girl. She was smiling widely, her ringlets of blonde hair framing her delicate features, highlighting the bluest round happy eyes. Booth smiled wistfully and ran a finger over the little girl, strikingly similar to his girlfriend, "Curly Burley, huh? ...she's a cutie"

"She's sick Agent Booth. It's Leukaemia and she needs a bone marrow transplant. Hannah left - said she needed a clean break and, as much as Teghan misses her, I have respected that but we can't get a close enough match for the doctors to be confident and I need Hannah to get tested."

Booth frowned and shook his head anxiously. He stood and began to pace, "Look, I feel uncomfortable discussing this without Hannah here. I am sorry for your troubles and for your daughter – I have a son so I know it would be hard but, I think I would know if Hannah had a child. She loves me – she would have told me. You can't hide that sort of thing! She would have... scars or, or, I don't know... something!"

"Look, I know it must be hard – finding out that your girlfriend hid such a huge part of her from you... Damn well makes me angry – Teghan is worth a lot more than that. I gotta talk to her though. If you are a father then you understand. I'm not leaving DC till she has been tested. It's the least she should do. Here are my details. This is where I am staying. I expect to see her by tomorrow morning or I will be back with a lawyer."

He handed Booth his card – already written on the back was his hotel and room number. Too stunned to talk, Booth simply nodded and opened the door as the man left silently.

OOOOOO

The moment Hannah saw Booth, sitting stone faced on the couch with scotch in hand, she knew something was up. The pictures on the coffee table took her breath away in silent explanation.

"Curly." She breathed, tears springing to her eyes.

"I think we need to talk Hannah."

A fire lit in her eyes, "Was Craig here?"

"Yes." Booth balled his hand and clenched his jaw in an effort to curb his temper – willing himself to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"I told him..." Hannah stalked angrily into the kitchen and poured herself a drink. Returning to the lounge she continued with venom, "What did he want? More money? I pay child maintenance Seeley! I am not completely irresponsible. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of her but I left because I didn't want to confuse her. I didn't want her shipped from one parent to the other – living half a life with each. It's not fair on _her_."

Booth's heart dropped with the confirmation that Teghan was indeed Hannah's child and his voice rose in reaction to her statement of defence, "So, are you telling me that I am a bad father for wanting to be in _my_ son's life? What are you saying Hannah? How can you justify that?"

"I support her Seeley! The life I have isn't conducive to being a mother – you know I am not good with children but I support her financially anyway – I do! She has a good life with Craig – he is a great father and he has so much support from his family – she is better off."

"_Teghan_ is sick, Hannah. Your husband has been trying to contact you!" The fact that Hannah hadn't brought herself to say her daughter's name had not gone unnoticed by Booth.

Hannah slumped down into the couch and sighed, "Does he need money for treatment?"

Booth stood – his anger barely containable, "She has Leukaemia, Hannah! Your daughter needs a bone marrow transplant and _you_ need to get over your pathetically disguised selfishness and be tested! Seriously..." he took a deep breath and turned away from her – praying for calm, "...if you don't have anything else to say, I think it's best if... I think you should leave. Craig's details are on the coffee table... _Promise me_ you will get tested."

"Of course... I will."

"Good." Booth nodded, squeezing his eyes shut to curb the tears, "Go back to her, Hannah. Every little girl needs her Mum."

She nodded as he faced her while he put on his jacket.

"I'm going out... give you some time to pack."

With that, he left, slamming the door on the way leaving a sobbing Hannah in his wake.

OOOOO

**Six months later...**

"Bones, it's raining cats and dogs, not dogs and cats."

"Booth, the order that they are placed within the phrase should hold no relevance. Effectively - it means exactly the same thing. Though, how anyone would perceive a link between domestic animals and the severity of precipitation is beyond my reasoning."

Booth simply smiled and held the door to the diner open for her. He had enjoyed getting things back to _normal_ between them. "I will make you a master of metaphors yet, Bones." He looked up at their table and saw it was occupied, his face dropped in recognition, "Hannah!"

At the mention of her mother's name, a little face topped with a bright pink bob popped into view and Booth couldn't stop the swell of pride at the fact that Hannah had her daughter with her.

"Hi Seeley. Hi Temperance. I thought we might bump into you here, we are just finished though; you can have our table." Her smile was welcoming and the partners made their way to meet the girls.

"It's good to see you Hannah, you're looking really well. Hey! You must be Curly! I really like your hair!" Booth crouched down so that he was at eye level with the blue eyed cutie.

"Thank you. I'm Lilly Allen today!" she smiled – revealing the newly acquired gummy gap between her front teeth.

Brennan's nose scrunched up in confusion, "Who's Lilly Allen? I thought her name was Teghan, Booth."

Hannah smiled, "Hmm, Lilly Allen is a pleasant young lady who sings songs that five year olds shouldn't be listening to... but she used to have pretty pink hair, hey Curley?"

"Yup, very pretty!"

"Well, we had better be off, it's good to see you guys. Take care hey?"

"Yeah, Hannah – you too. Hey... motherhood suits you," Booth smiled genuinely and skimmed a hand gently over her arm, "you're looking really happy."

Her smile mirrored his as she nodded, "I am Seeley. Thank you."

"Bye!" the little girl waved and skipped through the doors, pulling her mother with her and tinkling the bell in their wake. In the distance the partners heard her happy chirp, "Can we go to the park Mummy? The rain's stopped, please!"

OOOOO

"Wow! That was surreal." Booth let out a breath that he didn't realise he was holding.

"I never imagined her as a mother though; it was clear by her gait that she had been."

Booth lifted his head in shock, "You knew! Why didn't you say something?"

She shrugged, placing their order as the waitress came by. "It was none of my business, Booth. I thought that perhaps the infant had died or she had placed it up for adoption. It was pointless conjecture on my part and I figured Hannah would have either told you or had her reasons for not telling you."

"Mmh... I'm just glad it all worked out is all. A little girl should have her mother."

Brennan diverted her eyes, searching for the correct words, "Did seeing her again... ignite any... romantic feelings?"

He looked at her without raising his head, "No. She hid something big from me Bones. That sort of thing changes things on a very deep level. Not the sort of history that you wanna revisit if you know what I mean."

Silence held for a long moment before her hesitative voice broke the quiet, "I hid something big from you Booth... Does that mean that you won't revisit that part of our history?"

His eyes bored into hers – trying to gauge whether she was referring to her confession those seven months previous. Her nervousness was a clear indicator that it was.

"Bones, I don't like living in the past. Things that happen in the past should stay in the past. No regrets right?"

Brennan nodded, cursing the tears that sprung to her eyes, "Yes... yes, you're right Booth."

He smiled and gently took her hands in his, "But, the _future_... the future is whatever we want it to be. Whatever happens is what we choose despite the mistakes of our past. You don't believe in fate Bones, you think we should be responsible for making our own future, right?"

"Yes that is correct." She stared at their intertwined hands trying to ignore the flush of excitement that ran through her at his touch.

"I want _you_ to be my future, Bones... in spite of my mistakes and my pride and for the things that I still can't even forgive myself for. I still want... I want _us_, Bones. My biggest regret was saying I wanted to gamble on us. I should have had the guts to tell you how I really felt."

"I thought you said no regrets Booth."

There was the slightest of smiles turning up the corner of her mouth and it was all the encouragement Booth needed. Leaning forward till he was a hairs breadth away from her lips, he whispered, "I love you Temperance, No regrets."

Breaching the space between them, Brennan leaned in and stole the words from his mouth. She kissed him until his toes curled, until their food arrived in the hands of a blushing waitress, until their meal was all but cold.

_Finally_, after years of being slightly off-centre, the earth realigned and its orbit around the sun corrected itself. The snow melted, the birds awoke – sprouting forth titillating melodies of spring as the flowers lazily stretched open their colourful love-scented petals...

The world was finally _right_ again.

**Aw, I kinda feel a little better now, please let me know if you liked it too :)**

**Take care!**


End file.
